June 2/06 8:17 am - MT Hood Classic: Stage 2

It didn't take Dotsie Bausch long to figure out that she placed herself in the leader's jersey at the Mt. Hood Cycling Classic in Hood River, Oregon on Thursday.

The women's race, like the men's, ended in bunch sprint with Bausch earning second place on a technical downhill run-in over twisting, chip-seal roads. She was nipped by Brooke Miller of the PABW powered by TIBCO team, but second was enough to earn the 10-second time bonus that vaulted her past Alison Powers (Rio Grande/Sports Garage) and into the overall lead by seven seconds.

Health Net's Nathan O'Neill retained his leader's jersey but that outcome was in doubt during the course of his 85-mile race. Like the women, the time gaps separating the men's general classification were slim after the previous three-mile time trial stage. But unlike the women, who stayed mostly bunched over 56-miles of racing, the men's race saw a long break that almost succeeded.

After 18 miles over rolling hills with little wind, Jacob Erker of Symetrics and Aaron Tuckerman of Team Rubicon/Gleukos rolled clear of the main group. Soon they were joined by Jonny Sundt of Recycled Cycles and Salvador Borrego-Crum of California Giant/Villiage Peddler. After ten miles of even, hard pulls the quartet amassed a 1 minute 40 seconds lead on a languishing field led solely by Health Net's Greg Henderson and Roman Kilun with teammates O'Neill and Scott Moninger tucked safely in the field.

That scenario seemed the order of the day: the two Health Net riders patiently towing the field but losing a handful of seconds per mile to the four up front.

It was around around mile 40 that the lead suddenly ballooned. Behind the leaders the field was heading in the wrong direction. They missed a turn that cost - by most estimates - more than a minute. Suddenly the four up front were 3:48 up and were the leaders on the road with Erker, who won the Redland's KOM in 2004, in the leader's jersey.

"We were a little worried," O'Niell said of his team's ability to pull the break back. "But not really. Even with two or three guys rotating through, we pulled it back to just three minutes in a few miles so we knew it wasn't going to stay."

With two or three riders from other teams working into the Health Net-led chase, the gap was closing. Up front the quartet was faltering. Sundt was the first to lose contact, and although he later regained the break, his contributions to its forward progress were done. And so quite rapidly the gap closed until, four miles from the finish, the break was engulfed by the field.

What followed was, by most accounts, a hair raising bunch sprint over some pretty technical roads. Henderson, recently recovered from a broken hip, took a few miles rest to sharpen his sprint for the finish. At about the same time Symmetrics Andrew Pinfold was rallying his troops and elite national road champion Carl Decker from Broadmark/Hagens-Berman was towing his sprinter Chad Nikolz to the front. Kirk Carlsen of Team Rubicon/Gleukos was set to freelance the mass gallop. What ensued was near mayhem.

With a crosswind blowing from the left, Henderson dove from the left to the right side of the road just as Pinfold was charging up the right side. They met at nearly the same spot. Racing at more than 40 mph, Henderson's line took Pinfold off the road and into the gravel shoulder. Nikolz and Carlsen dove left. Pinfold regained the road and tried again to get by Henderson on the right but again found himself in the gravel.

Henderson crossed first with Pinfold in second, Carlsen in third and Nikolz in fourth.

"It was a tough finish," Henderson said afterwards. "It was a crosswind sprint so I moved across the road to protect my line and someone tried to pass me on the right."

Pinfold protested and the judges saw it his way.

"It's not how I like to win," Pinfold said. "But the reason (Henderson) got relegated was because I tried to pass him, not once, but twice. There was a sprinter's lane there for sure."

For three of the four riders in the early break, the day resulted in no net gains. Sundt, however, moved into the KOM jersey. For the former Jittery Joe's pro, it was a needed break after suffering through a rough season that included a crash that resulted in a bad concussion and a chipped tooth.

"Right now I'm out here faking it, " he said. "But I got the KOM and I'm realistic about keeping it... not going to happen."

Today's 95-mile stage for the men features 9,000 feet of climbing and Sundt, admittedly, is not a climber. The women race 56 miles and endure 5,400 feet of climbing.